How Cincinnati Zoo Answered The Call

Cincinnati Zoo Asks Us ALL to Answer The Call

Gorilla Glue is sponsoring a national challenge for the "Saving Species" program at Cincinnati Zoo

UPDATE: September, 2011

The Cincinnati Zoo continues to raise the bar in efforts to eliminate e-waste, to protect habitats and waterways, and to educate the public about the effects of our handheld devices on gorillas and wildlife.

Gorilla Glue, a Cincinnati-based company, has agreed to serve as a Corporate sponsor to help the zoo raise awareness and to bring their highly-successful “Saving Species” program to a national audience.

The “Go Bananas Challenge” is simple (and rewarding!): “Collect the most phones and receive $5000 for your school or scout group.” Read more: Cincinnati Zoo: Saving Species

UPDATE: January, 2011

The video below is simply awesome! Rhiannon and the team at the Cincinnati Zoo continue to set the standard for creativity and fun in our recycling efforts. Watch these animals!

POSTED: January, 2011

Rhiannon Hoeweler, Senior Project Manager at the Cincinnati Zoo, directs the “Saving Species” program at the Cincinnati Zoo. She generously shares her expertise in this special guest post. Excerpts appear in the January 2011 ECOnnection newsletter.

Last fall, the Zoo worked with a local school, Summit Country Day, to incorporate our Eco-Cell initiatives into their service learning program. The results were fast and exciting.

The school and its students collected over 300 phones using little more than word of mouth, generated media interest, and served as a model for the rest of our community.

In a short period of time it became clear that this marriage of clear, easy and compelling conservation projects with an enthusiastic group could generate powerful results.

Thus the zoo’s Saving Species program was born.

The Saving Species campaign has focused on the very specific and focused message of modeling conservation action (e.g. recycling cell phones), while providing the tools to our visitors and the greater community to become active leaders in our goal to become the #1 Zoo in North America recycling phones.

Using Summit’s efforts as a pilot provided a vision for the possibilities that lay ahead.

Spreading the Message and Engaging the Community

Each and every person at CZBG rose to the occasion and has incorporated the message of the Saving Species campaign into their area of the Zoo.

Our Red River Hogs recycle phones in the Cheetah Encounter, Birds recycle in our Wings of Wonder shows, we have even called the board of trustees to action. See Video Below!

The program reaches out to visitors, businesses/organizations, and schools through word of mouth, the Saving Species microsite (where all the necessary tools and information people need to get started can be located), with artwork created by students displayed in local businesses, through help from our marketing/pr department and local news outlets.

The results – we now have over 28 schools and 40 business partners engaged in our Saving Species campaign.

It’s been a lot of fun watching the program grow, witnessing the amazing support from the Cincinnati community, and getting feedback and ideas from others on how to grow the program.

ECO-CELL: Thanks, Rhiannon for sharing these valuable tips and ideas. It is truly amazing to see how you’ve grown the program in a short period of time!

All ECO-CELL partners and visitors to the blog are invited to submit questions, suggestions, feedback and comments below.